40% of Movie Theatres to Reopen in June Across the US

LA, California, 2020-Jun-16 — /EPR Network/ — Some fear that it is too soon for entertainment venues and theatres to reopen safely

Since the middle of February, movie theatres, entertainment venues, and bowling alleys have been forced to close their doors to the public amidst the ever-growing threat of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Although most non-essential businesses were forced to close for some time as a result of lockdowns across the country, it is thought that the entertainment industry, particularly movie theatres and bowling alleys would be forced to remain closed longest due to the nature of the businesses.

Despite fears that reopening movie theatres and other entertainment venues could become hotspots for viral spread, almost 40% of theatres across the US plan to reopen their doors in the month of June.

Although theatres will be open, experts expect that there will still be a drop in the number of people that actually visit the theatres, although they do admit that it is hard to predict the public reaction to the reopening of entertainment venues.

In a survey carried out by Performance Research and Full Circle Research Co. showed that 49% to 56% of people who took part in the survey felt it would take a few months for them to be comfortable returning to public venues for social events.

In order to combat this, movie theatres are planning to put social distancing measures in place that will help customers to feel safer and more at ease attending screenings and performances. Many theatres are making changes to their maximum capacity within theatre screens in order to maintain a 6-foot distance between patrons at all times. Some theatres are also increasing their cleaning staff to ensure that screens and seats are clean and disinfected between each customer.

One other big change that is expected to take place is that many theatres will switch to cashless payment systems to reduce the amount of contact between staff and customers. Many small theatres that currently don’t accept contactless payments are expected to invest in movie theater pos systems like Embed that will allow their customers to make contactless payments and have digital wallets for making purchases in the venue. Not only will this help movie theatres and other entertainment venues to reduce the spread of the virus, but it will also make buying tickets, making purchases, and playing games a lot easier for their customers.

Disney and other major movie distributors have pushed back titles such as ‘Mulan’ and ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ to the beginning of July in the hope that customers will be able to attend theatres in some capacity and enjoy the full movie theatre experience. Hopefully, the social distancing measures the theatres plan to have in place will provide safety and peace of mind for customers.

Source: IV Media